Torkel Brekke
WSJ, Feb. 27, 2024
“When Norwegian university faculty and boards call for boycotts of Israel, their virtue signaling typically comes without a cost, but a counter-boycott might change the calculus because losing U.S. partners would hurt most institutions.”
I have spent years researching religious discrimination against Jews and Muslims globally and am deeply troubled to find a modern strain of antisemitism spreading in my own country.
Though cloaked under another name—“anti-Zionism”—its roots are traceable to a well-documented Soviet apparatus of anti-Israel and anti-Western propaganda. This poisonous ideology is a threat to Jews everywhere.
Recent decisions by Norwegian universities to cut institutional ties with Israel are clear indications of anti-Zionist sentiment here. Oslo Metropolitan University on Feb. 14 condemned “Israel’s attack on Gaza,” put on hold an exchange program with the University of Haifa and announced it wouldn’t enter into new agreements with Israeli universities. The University of Southeastern Norway criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza and terminated cooperation agreements with two Israeli universities on Feb. 19 but insists, absurdly, that this doesn’t amount to an academic boycott. Other schools debate whether to follow suit.
A rational conversation on this subject would begin with people debating the ethics of academic boycotts, then weighing criteria for boycotts in general, and finally considering boycotts against the worst states—such as Iran, North Korea and Myanmar. But the debate about boycotts of Israel is no more rational than debates about the “sins” of the Jews in earlier periods of history.
While the most recent boycott decisions have arisen in the context of the devastating war against Hamas in Gaza, this isn’t the root cause. Some university faculty in Norway have been pushing for boycotts of Israel for decades. Meanwhile, Norway’s research and innovation sector has rushed to deepen its cooperation with China.
What can be done? To date, 38 U.S. states have adopted legislation designed to discourage boycotts against Israel. In a similar vein, universities in the U.S. should consider setting up counter-boycotts against foreign universities that attempt to isolate Israel. Norway would be a great place to start. This could mean terminating strategic partnerships for research and student exchange.
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